Diane Redfern runs Connecting: Solo Travel Network and publishes its e-zine, Connecting: Solo Travel News. She also publishes CSTN’s Single-Friendly Travel Directory. CSTN is a network of solo travelers dedicated to sharing information about singles travel opportunities and to encourage goodwill and hospitality among solo travelers. Ms. Redfern spoke with me about singles travel and offered her insights into the latest trends in the solo travel industry.
Senior Travel Guide Nancy Parode: Why did you start Connecting: Solo Travel Network?
Diane Redfern: I have been associated with the travel industry since 1974. I started travel writing in 1985 and had a travel column in the Vancouver Province. A lot of the questions I used to get were about single travel. I took a year off to travel with one carry-on suitcase, and when I got back, there weren’t any travel companies focusing on singles at all, save one, and it eventually went under. Basically, I started a little newsletter and sent it out. Now I do it electronically. I maintain a database of singles tours and cruises. There are about 400 trips at any given time – English speaking trips.
What hasn’t changed [since CSTN began in 1990] is the single supplement in North America. It’s the bane of solo travelers. In England, the single supplement has definitely changed. They
It takes the tour operators to go out there and get the courage to start a concept, I guess. In North America, they always advertise the lowest possible price, and it’s based on two people sharing a room. They ignore the fact that one-third of the population is single.
Also, not all solo travelers are single. There are a lot of married people out there who don’t want to share a room. Maybe their husbands hate traveling and want to stay home and go fishing.
The single supplement is a slap in the face if you are suddenly alone. The travel industry expects the single to conform to the product. Some consumer organization is going to start having to fight for the solo traveler.
Guide Nancy: How old is the average solo traveler who joins CSTN?
Diane Redfern: It’s always been – for years – 48 to 49 percent between ages 30 and 50, a similar amount over age 50, and very few under 30. That is changing. I am now attracting an older crowd. There are more and more people in a position to travel. Airfares have virtually not changed in 20 years.
Guide Nancy: What emerging trends do you see as solo travel continues to grow?
Diane Redfern: What I see is that there are many, many more options available. Tour operators are putting together trips just for single travelers. They’re filling them, too. They’re going to exotic places, not just to the Caribbean on a cruise. There are more choices if you want to go on a singles-only tour. Companies like Adventures for Singles, All Singles Travel and Travel Buddies are offering eight, ten, twelve trips a year. But, you have to ask yourself, what are your reasons for going on a singles-only tour? Are you going on a singles-only tour to avoid the single supplement, or to meet like-minded people?
On the negative side, the single supplement is still there. But, then, you know this whole concept of singles and solo travel is very complicated. Traveling alone has the added feature of loneliness, cost and security issues attached, specifically the cost.
Guide Nancy: What advice do you have for singles who are considering solo travel for the first time?
Diane Redfern: They have to consider their comfort zones, set their budget. They are going to have to learn the ropes of solo travel. The best place to do that is CSTN. We have a newsletter every other month, and then there’s Going Solo Tales and Going Solo Tips. Going Solo Tips is written for novice travelers. Going Solo Tales includes my own silly experiences that I went through as a novice traveler. We cover all the angles.
Solo travelers need help finding a resource to know what all of the options are that are available to them.
Guide Nancy: Is planning independent travel easier for solo travelers?
Diane Redfern: It’s only easier in that you can please yourself. It’s challenging – you really push your limits. That’s why I publish my “Reader Reports” and “Travelers’ Tales,” to encourage others to try travel rather than staying at home.
Then there are volunteer vacations or workshop holidays. You can go with Habitat for Humanity, Earthwatch or Elderhostel. It's easy; everything is arranged. You go, and you participate.
One of my readers saw China by bus – public bus. China is very tourist- oriented. They are so ready to help, and the infrastructure is already there. I traveled through Turkey 15 years ago on the buses. Now, people go there all the time. I have some readers who are well into their 70s, who are going out, teaching English in Tibet and so on.
